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Wang Yi, a senior adviser for China's decarbonization strategy and 5 year plan has this to say about China's approach to climate change. Yi says it is more important to focus on what actions are to be taken between now and 2030. Here he says China has outlined concrete steps that it will take that the world media has not covered in its coverage of COP26 Glasgow. Yi says China is making changes to its entire system not only its energy sector, across the whole society and the economy. Yet he says "nobody knows this." The working guidance document for carbon control China has put out says it will peak coal consumption by 2025.  Yi says it is unfair to ask China to close all coal powered plants, saying that if these plants with a life of 10 years were closed now who will pay for stranded assets and who will hire the laid off workers. He called attention to western nations failure to provide climate finance to China, India and developing countries. And he called attention to the the plans that by 2030 Chinese investment is to have 1200 gigawatts of installed solar and wind energy, more than the entire installed electricity capacity of the US. He says we are all in the same boat yet in different cabins, with some living in bigger space and consuming too much. ...

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Atul Aneja looks at Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's comments on the India- China relationship in March 2018.  The comments by Wang Yi show an extraordinary effort by the Foreign Minister to push for better relations. He raises the need for greater dialogue and "mutual trust" to improve the relations. Wang visited India in December during the period of tense relations and the post-Doklam meeting between prime minister Modi and president Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS meeting in Xiamen. India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale visited China in Feb. 2017. A China-India economic dialogue is planned for April, 2018, preceded by visits of Commerce Minister Zhong Shan and Guo Yezhou, Vice Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China. Compared to the comments by both sides during the Doklam crisis there appears to be a significant change in policy. Wang refers to "more far-sighted leaders" who have realized the importance of the India- China relationship as that between the two largest developing countries each with a population of 1 billion.  In the context of events in early March with pressure from the Trump administration on trade with China- calling for China to come up with plans to reduce the trade surplus in 2018- and the growing influence of Mr. Lighthizer as a trusted advisor of president Trump and exit of Gary Cohn, this could be a strategic move.   ...

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The difficult task facing Wang Yi, former foreign minister of China, of maintaining relations with the European Union in the middle of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on which China has not supported the EU. Some changes have taken place in the EU in 2022 that affect EU relations with China. Italy and Czech Republic have new governments that are critical of China. The Ukraine war after one year is taking its toll on EU relations with China, as trade between Russia and China is expected to grow to $200 billion in 2023 from $140 billion in 2021.

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Xi tells Senate majority leader Schumer on a visit to Beijing that China has every reason to want stable relations with the US. Xi meets Biden at a November Summit meeting in the US.

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Though this report in WSJ speculates about removal of Foreign Minister Qin Gang after only a year in office and the return of veteran diplomat Wang Yi, it is clear that the 69 year old Yi brought experience badly needed by Xi Jinping. The decisions taken during the pandemic were reversed, the isolation is now seen as an error as China engages with the US and the EU. Like veteran diplomat Jaishankar for Mr. Modi, Xi needs Wang Yi's skills more than ever today to build a stable productive relationship with the US. During Mr Yi's long career US China, EU China relations reflected important decisions that were taken with a shared understanding, more than ever the need today.

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Wang and Dong reporting from Beijing and Hong Kong show how Chinese government media is presenting Xi as a friend of the United States. He stayed on an Iowa farm in his younger days. He is also shown in a picture in the NYT riding a bicycle with his 6 year old daughter on the back of the bicycle from his days in Fujian province in the 1980's (Xinhua). In that NYT report yesterday by Chris Buckley Xi says "We have a thousand reasons for good relations with the US."

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"To Invest (at home), To Align (with allies), To Compete (with the world)" sums up the approach of president Biden with China. It also sums up the approach at home and overseas. Biden senior adviser, Jake Sullivan at Council of Foreign Relations sets out the framework and path for managing US-China relations into the future for many decades. Here at the Council of Foreign Relations he shows how- through careful study of the relationship's history, the changes in the relationship, and where it is today in 2024. Having participated in previous administrations Jake understood how it has evolved, where mistakes were made by both China and the US, where misperceptions took hold and need for clarification, for action. The old Strategic Dialogue followed by Paulsen under Bush 2000-2008 allowed the relationship to be guided by business interests, -without any clear strategy or idea where it was going except maximizing interests of business on both sides- was continued by Kerry under Obama 2008-2016. Sullivan, Blinken and Biden have built a Strategic Economic Cooperation Framework that has clear goals on the American side and goals on the Chinese side, and work between the two presidents and their cabinet ministers. Trump 2016-2020 rejected the earlier Strategic Dialogue but was not able to set up a sound framework that would guide future relations for decades. Sullivan helped set up a new framework around three principles- To Invest, To Align, and To Compete.   Here he describes how the plan to invest trillions in infrastructure in the US was part of this plan's principle To Invest. On Align it was to derisk not decouple by reducing the excessive concentration of supply chains in China, that was revealed as a problem in the pandemic years. Building up manufacturing at home and in India, Vietnam and Japan. Align also was to have allies Japan, South Korea and India to be aligned with the US policy. It also meant that all three countries would follow the same framework for their economies To Invest, To Align, To Compete.  By combining the strengths of the 2 largest economic centers Seoul/Tokyo with New Delhi/Sydney in Indo-Pacific the leveraging effect of US strength could be felt to support its position. And third to compete on level field so that America retained control of its technologies and implementing exports controls. And sharing this in  open communication with China that the US was protecting its technology and interests the way China has done in the past for its interests. The benefit of open communication even where there are differences had the advantage of not turning this into open rhetoric that damaged relations as had happened under previous administrations. Wang Yi on China's side having seen and approached it with careful study and reflection had similar goals to stabilize and put the relationship on a sound footing. Sullivan met extensively with Wang Yi in meetings in several locations around the world. Ministers Yellen, Raimondo, Blinken, Kerry, were sent to China for extensive discussions as part of this strategy in 2023 leading to remarkable change in the mood and confidence in US- China relations after tumult in 2016-2020 and uncertainty in previous administrations. Much credit goes to president Biden and Jake Sullivan, Anthony Blinken, and also to Wang Yi and Jinping in no way diminishing their own initiative, so that for the first time in decades the US China relationship is now on a stable footing. Both countries faced common challenges around counter narcotics, around climate change, and other issues. These are being addressed. Competition is managed carefully and no rhetoric is taking place so that the largest two economies and about 1.7 billion in US and China and 2 billion people who are allies in India/Indonesia/Vietnam/ Korea/Japan living on the same planet earth can have economic and other cooperation  with different cultures, economic structures and systems of government. The result of such a framework also gives the basis for cooperation with America's allies to invest in Africa and Latin America and in the people of these two continents as another level of alignment and investment for a safer better world. ...

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Jill Biden regrets getting Biden to run for a second term in her Memoir. Jill is cited in WSJ as telling NBC - "As I look back, would I want to put Joe through the hurt and the pain that we felt during that time? Never. Never." Jill also faults Harris for seeking an immediate endorsement from Biden. WSJ says it had said at the time that the best way for the country and for Democrats was to let the Convention pick the nominee by competitive party convention.

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Wang Huning, who has shaped the policies of three Chinese presidents, was a professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, before beng selected by president Jiang Zemin in 1995 to join the Communist Party of China's Central Policy Research office. The Policy Research Office provides research and guidance on foreign and domestic policy to China's leadership body, the Politburo. Huning was dean of the law school at Fudan, and head of its international politics department. He studied French at a foreign languages school during the Cultural Revolution upheavals in China, before going to Fudan University in 1978. Xi Jinping, the current president, was sent like many other Chinese leaders to work on a farm in the countryside during that period. In that same year 1978, Li Keqiang, the current prime minister moved to Peking University, after taking the first university entrance exams in 1977 following the Cultural Revolution. Li studied western constitutional law, later focussing on urbanization for his postgraduate work. Huning studied in the U.S. in 1989 and is familiar with the American system, western concepts of government and economy. His specialization at the international politics department was in comparitive politics- the systems of government of different countries- and he is seen by experts as having been a key influence in defining China's path making move to build a market economy under public ownership, seeing it possible for the two to work together. In 1991 Huning published "America Against America," critiquing the American political system and pointing out that in American democracy major economic decision making powers still rested mainly in private consortiums, with this acting as a constraint on political democracy. These ideas gradually evolved into ways to manage China in a world with alternative systems and political history. For Huning the question facing China was one of of finding its own workable model based on its history and experience, and need to manage the transition to a modern economy in a stable environment. Huning is now part of the Politburo and a candidate for a seat on the Standing Committe in 2017. At 57, he is expected to be part of the leadership for the next decade, having helped three presidents shape domestic and foreign policy, setting the direction for China's transition to a modernized economy and a political system that accomodates the needs of a new generation....

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The longest US Open Tennis match? 5 hours and 35 minutes between Dan Evans of the US and Karen Khachanov of Russia just yesterday August 26, 2024. The first three sets were tie breakers. Dan Evans was down 0-4 in the fifth set and came out to win it 6-4. At 4 down he thought he was out and just kept on fighting. Fans gave a rousing ovation. Evans says "it was one hell of a match. I just want to go to bed." 

• Set 1 - 68 minutes
  
  
• Set 2 - 67 minutes
  
  
• Set 3 - 72 minutes
  
  
• Set 4 - 67 minutes
  
  
• Set 5 - 61 minutes
  
  

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The appointments to key economic positions in the Jinping-Keqiang administration in 2013 reflect continuity and importance given to experience. Zhou Xiaochuan continues as head of the central bank PBOC, to keep an experienced person in the the event of a financial crisis. Lou Jiwei, chairman of the sovereign wealth fund, is now the new finance minister. Xu Shaoshi, minister of land and resources, is the new head of the National Development and Reform Commission, the economic planning agency. Xiao Gang, chairman of the Bank of China, one of four state owned banks, will be the new head of the securities regulator, China Securities Regulatory Commission. Zhang Gaoli, a member of the Political Standing Committee of the Communist party, and Wang Yang, party chief of southern Guangdong province, also join the economic team. Li Keqiang, the new prime minister emphasized the agenda for the next decade telling a press conference: "Talking the talk is not as good as walking the walk. We need to pursue market oriented reforms." This means giving the private sector and consumers a signficant role in the Chinese economy....

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What is the point of winning the World Cup says Steve Thompson, 2003 Rugby World Cup player for England, if you have to deal with the rubbish that comes after it. At 42 he can't remember his wife's name.  He has been diagnosed with dementia. It appears that all the knocks to the head taken in the game have affected his memory. This report in The Times looks at the reality and anguish of sports players who discover years later what happened during the time they played.

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US president DJT State of the Union Address to Congress Feb 24, 2026. BBC Analysis shows the president going on the offense to take up the issue of illegal migrants, cost of living, and business investment to get the economy to grow. DJT compared the $1 trillion in business investment under Biden over 4 years with the $18 trillion that he had secured in his first year. He said the tariffs were here to stay whatever the Supreme Court decision stated because all the agreements with EU, UK, China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, other countries will remain in place as all countries want it that way. The president stated that through tariffs he had secured benefits for getting manufacturing back to the US to create jobs and raise incomes. The Big Beautiful Bill also added to business investment through its writeoff in one time for equipment and plant. The oil price per gallon had gone down to $1.85 a gallon at the pump lowering the cost of living and inflation. He pointed out that the economy was strong with low inflation lower than 3%, unemployment at 4% and ecponomic growth in 2025 close to 3% with some quarters exceeding 4-5%. The US ice hockey team attended the event and the Congressional medal of honor was given to soldiers in the Venezuelan helicopter dangerous mission, and to a World War II pilot who was 100 years old. Transgender was shown as an issue with parents shown with their daughter who had suffered from transgender laws that he asked Congress to change. Calling some of this crazy as parents and families were suffering as a result. ...

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Rohan Premkumar in The Hindu provides this report of Chinese prisoners from the Opium wars of the 1850's sent to this "ancient sub-jail"in the Nilgiris hills Tamilnadu by the British.  These POW camps provided cheap indentured labor to establish tea plantations in the Nilgiri hills. It helped to bring in revenue for the Empire through tea cultivation. About $1 million was spent to renovate this building so that future generations know what happened here since the arrival of the British by 1800. By contrast Yuen Yuen Ang at John Hopkins University from Singapore is interviewed for the NYT by Ezra Klein on China's Xi Jinping and the autocracy with democracy characteristics that prevailed under Deng, without an awareness of this period. For Zhongxun and Qi Xin, Jinping's parents this period of the Opium Wars, Taiping Rebellion, Boxer Uprising from 1850's and British, European invasion, must have been very real in the 1930's. And added to this the Japanese invasion of China. This has deeply influenced Xi Jinping.  ...

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Andy Burnham, Labour's Mayor of Greater Manchester region, launches his bid for Makerfield seat in British parliament with a natural style following daily runs and running Manchester. He says-

“I’m prepared to take that fight as high as I can go. I want to play whatever part I can in changing this party back to the party here people used to know, and the party that is solidly on the side of working-class community.”

He added: “I‘ve not done the usual thing of talking in code. I’ve said it plainly what I’m trying to do.”

 

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China's new foreign policy team under the Jinping-Keqiang administration. Foreign minister Yang Jiechi, becomes state councilor, and senior official on the team. The new foreign minister Wang Yi, was China's ambassador to Japan 2004-2007. The new ambassador to the U.S. is Cui Tiankai, a diplomat who graduated from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in the U.S. Cui was ambassador to Japan 2007-2009. Managing the China-Japan and China-U.S. relationships is critical for China because China depends on U.S. and Japanese companies for investment and new technology, for continued economic progress. The relationship has been affected by the territorial disputes with Japan in the East China Sea. Germany as an advanced technology manufacturer and commodity exporters Australia, Canada, Argentina and Brazil depend on the Chinese market for exports, creating an interwoven economic dynamic that is likely to be the dominant factor in relations. This is also the perception of Li Keqiang who told a press conference in Beijing that the competition with the U.S. has been overemphasized, that he "does not believe conflicts between great powers are inevitable." Foreign affairs remains subordinate to domestic policy and priorities in China, as China tackles the problem of reorienting its economy to give an important place to the private sector and consumers. Itself not an easy task, as prime minister Keqiang pointed out at his first press conference: "Talking the talk is not as good as walking the walk." One of Keqiang's main allies in this effort is Robert Zoellick, former president of the World Bank, who helped put together with China's DRC, the report "China: 2030," outlining these priorities....

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Biden says at Hiroshima G7 Question time with media organizations, that a thaw in relations with China will happen soon. Responding to a question about communications in a crisis he said he and Xi had agree that this would be done and then Biden says there is "this silly balloon" with intelligence equipment that passed over the US that delayed this decision being implemented. He says the US and its European allies are restricting high tech equipment from being exported to China not because it is a hostile act but we just want to maintain the status quo.

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President Biden sets out the new role of America in the Asia Pacific region at the APEC CEO Summit. Key points from hours of discussion Biden had with Xi Jinping during his visit to the US- 

"Let me be clear. America does not seek conflict with China." And that "America is not decoupling with China. It is de-risking and diversifying from China." For his part Jinping has said- "There are a thousand reasons for us to want good relations with the US." This may be the biggest achievement of both leaders.

 

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Yuen Yuen Ang presents the view that China is an autocracy with democracy characteristics. Her view of Xi is conventional reflecting contemporary ideas. Yet Xi was profoundly influenced by his father Xi Zhongxun and mother Qi Xin, revolutionary heroes in the fight against the British, Japanese and Chiang Nationalists which shape his view of the world. Zhongxun also shaped the response to the struggle for modernization after failures of the Maoist period, in efforts he made under Deng. In this sense he adapted to different conditions. This view of China's leaders is that they are intuitive and human, that China is simply responding intuitively under Xi to the conditions it faces and perceptions about these conditions to maintain the wellbeing of the vast majority of the Chinese people after the century of struggles 1850-1950 and later missteps. The experiment with capitalism and a new generation with no memories of the past meant to Xi and other Chinese leaders that everything that an earlier generation (his own parents) had fought for in the struggle against the British and Japanese invasions could be lost quickly, if China was allowed to fall into the kind of corruption and self-seeking leaders that marked the Chiang regime of the 1930's. This led to the effort to consolidate the gains of the Chinese nation made over 2 centuries since the rise of the British in Asia in 1800, with Xi seeing no choice but to take responsibility and the initiative as his father Zhongxun had done in the 1930's and 1940's to breakout of isolated regions in the north of China. The sudden shift to adapt to open covid policy is also apparent from Zhongxun's ability to adapt to and lead the changes after Deng's experiment with a market economy. A report by Rohan Premkumar in the Hindu on Jan 25 on a British sub-jail in the Nilgiri hills of Tamilnadu shows prisoners from the Opium wars with China sent to this jail by the British. These events still shape Chinese perceptions of the world- the backwardness in faceoffs with the west and the cost to the mainland Asian nations India and China. Inland river based civilizations on the Ganges and the Yangtze that failed, as Adam Smith says in The Wealth of Nations, to change in ways that the Renaissance  and the Industrial Revolution changed Europe. ...

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Li Keqiang, China's new premier, entered Peking University in 1978 by excelling in merit exams. Li and a fellow student, Yang Baikui, translated the English book "The Due Process of Law" by British jurist Lord Denning. Professor Gong Xiangrui, brought the book to China and educated his students in the ideas of constitutional law and western liberalism. Yang says Li learned English on his own and meticulously carried a stack of notecards with English on one side and Chinese translation on the other. Li would study the cards while waiting for a bus or in the line at the school cafeteria. Li has political discusions with students from that time, some of whom joined the pro-democracy demonstrations of 1989. He is the son of a mid level county official from Anhui province and moved in the party ranks through diligent effort. Li's doctoral thesis is in economcs and he is expected to focus on economic changes, with Xi Jinping, the new president, taking the lead in making changes to the political system. Fellow students from Li's days at Peking University say the difference between them and Li is the pace of democratization, with Li looking at it as a longer process. Recent articles by Li Keqiang on economic change show his emphasis on urbanization as a way to improve agricultural conditions with a smaller number of farmers improving producitvity in agriculture, and the importance of creating a better social safety net for people in China....

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Xi Jinping's 3 day visit to Russia and his meetings with Mr. Putin. China presents the trip as an effort to start peace talks between Russia and Ukraine based on its proposals. China is also affected by the war in Ukraine as it works against China's recovery from the economic effects of the pandemic. China sees Russia as a partner in what it sees as a multipolar world, yet it is too close to Germany and the European Union, relations which provide it with access to western technology needed for its continuing growth. China does not want to disrupt the relationship with Germany and the European Union over the war in Ukraine.